Researchers from University of Idaho’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences are aiding in a multi-institutional project to develop and test a precision feeding system that optimizes rations to meet the nutritional needs of individual dairy cows.

The research team’s Self-learning Dairy (SLDairy) technology works with existing equipment used by automatic milking systems, where cows may enter a stall with a robotic milker under their own volition and feed is automatically dispensed as an incentive to lure them inside. The team’s cloud-based system monitors each cow’s performance in real time to adjust delivery of food pellets from the automated stations as needed, based on nutritional models, herd management software data, feeding software data, and records from the robotic milking system about milk production and milk components.